June 2, 2017 - by varone

In 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released a decision mandating the use of electronic logging devices (ELD’s). The deadline for compliance with their ELD mandate is now fast approaching – by December of 2017, all carriers that operate within or travel through the United States must switch their paper logs for ELD’s. These ELD’s must be registered with the FMCSA, meeting the technical specifications they’ve laid out, and they must be certified by a manufacturer.

So, what is an ELD? And how does this mandate affect you?

The device itself attaches to a commercial motor vehicle, synchronizes with the engine, automatically records a driver’s hours of service (HoS), and simplifies the driver vehicle inspection report (DVIR) process, while also collecting important information such as location, engine hours, vehicle movement, and miles driven. By providing “snapshots” of the vehicle’s movements and location throughout the day, ELD’s can facilitate considerably more accurate recording of any driver activity.

Beyond fleet compliance with FMCSA regulations, ELD’s offer many advantages to motor carriers. ELD’s allow for increased levels of productivity and efficiency for fleet owners, as well as improving driver safety. Using an ELD saves time and money by simplifying the records of duty process, and increasing the efficiency of vehicle inspections, which significantly reduces the amount of time drivers spend doing paperwork. The DVIR process also is made easier by automating reports, making them easier to submit and access. This allows for more drive time, more clerical time for office staff, and a reduction in paper costs, as paper log books are no longer necessary. The increased HoS compliance that comes from the automatic recording of duty status will be able to prevent fatigued drivers from getting behind the wheel, and the engine fault reporting will allow for better vehicle maintenance.

With the ELD deadline fast approaching, the FMCSA is currently working on the development of the Electronic Records of Duty Status (EROD) software system. This system will ultimately be the one through which all ELD records will be submitted from companies to the FMCSA. Until this software is fully prepared to receive logs, no solution can boast full compliance with regulations, as they have not been exposed to the crucial reporting process of the ELD mandate.

PinPoint offers Geotab Drive Solution; a mobile app that tracks Hours of Service (HoS), Driver Vehicle Inspection Reporting (DVIR), and driver identification. The app syncs data between a Geotab GO device and a tablet to provide functions such as automatic duty status changes, violation alerts, and complete end-to-end workflow inspection. It is estimated that the FMCSA’s EROD solution will be ready for use this summer, and you can expect GeoTab’s Drive Solution to develop the requirements to communicate with the EROD application as soon as the necessary information is released by the FMCSA.

PinPoint has extensive experience with the rollout of the ELD process. Check out what our client, TM3 Inc. has to say about their experience with PinPoint’s ELD solution:

In late 2015, TM3 Inc. reviewed their deployment process for day to day routing of maintenance crews. By reviewing their metrics and working together with their Telematics provider, they planned for the implementation of a three phased project for Electronic Logging Devices, Custom Aerial Inspection application for Bucket Trucks, as well as an integrated Route Planning and scheduling application. “As we measured our administrative and labour cost of processing logs and routes, we knew that paper administration was extremely costly to our overall operation”, said Terry Moore, VP of TM3 Inc. “We engaged with PinPoint GPS Solutions and created a plan to expand our current telematics solution adding their Electronic Log solution on tablet devices in our Heavy Duty Trucks. We expanded in Phase II and III of our Upgrade to add 2 additional applications to minimize paper; customized Aerial Inspection, and real-time routing. These tools allowed us to minimize our inspection times significantly, and gain some huge time savings on our routing processes, as well as making it easier to monitor compliance”. TM3 continues to utilize key features from the PinPoint Solution to manage Engine Fault notifications. Driver Behavior reporting and maintenance on a day to day basis.

Contact Us to find out more about how we can help you receive all the benefits that ELD has to offer.